Daily Archives: February 28, 2009

The basic idea of the Founding Fathers was to get government as close to the people as possible. In other words, a small federal government, with strong local and state governments. Thomas Jefferson said, â€œWhen all government shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it willâ€¦ become as oppressive as the government from which we separated [ourselves, the government of England].â€

Do you think that a bloated federal bureaucracy might be at the root of the problems we are facing today in our American Republic? Our nationâ€™s Founders never dreamed that the federal government would become the octopus that it is, with its tentacles reaching into every facet of our lives. Is there a solution? Yes, and itâ€™s already happening now!

On 02-26-09, a number of Virginia State Representative intrduced House Resolution 61, which reads:

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Congress of the United States be urged to honor state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The Commonwealth of Virginia hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. The Commonwealth by this resolution serves notice to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers. Further, the Commonwealth urges that all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding shall be prohibited or repealed.

For those history buffs out there, Virginia (along with Kentucky) was at the forefront in asserting the principles of State Sovereignty and limited government in the early days of the Republic. The Virginia Resolution of 1798, authored by James Madison in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson, took what some consider to be the strongest position on this issue in our history.